Of all the places in Japan where yakitori is sold — the all-night convenience stores, vending machines, izakayas, yearly fairs and seasonal festivals, the crowded inlets around train station entrances, the two-wheeled pushcarts known as yata — the Tokyo restaurant Torishiki is, by general acclaim, considered the best. Those who have secured places at one of its 17 counter seats speak of a chicken-skewer meal there as if it were a kind of chamber-music recital and Yoshiteru Ikegawa, the proprietor and chef, were a virtuoso whose instrument happened to be a charcoal grill. Torishiki opened its first (and so far, only) overseas offshoot last year, on Elizabeth Street in NoHo. Called Torien, it arrived a little more than two months before the general shutdown and remained closed for almost exactly a year. When it re-emerged in March, it resumed offering its $150 menu of about 15 courses.

Source: New York Times July 13, 2021 15:56 UTC